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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27882954">Light</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrspollifax/pseuds/mrspollifax'>mrspollifax</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>advent calendar 2020 [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Frozen (Disney Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Advent Calendar, Children, Family, Ficlet, Gen, Holidays, Pre-Canon, Sisters, caveat i have not seen frozen 2, elsa's relationship with her magic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 15:28:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>643</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27882954</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrspollifax/pseuds/mrspollifax</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p><i>Elsa can’t ever seem to help being her sister’s willing accomplice.</i> Young Elsa and Anna at Yuletide.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>advent calendar 2020 [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2040538</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Light</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Advent Calendar ficlets, Day 4: Light.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The Yule night dinner has long since ended. After Mother and Father said goodnight, Nurse took Elsa and Anna upstairs to the nursery, fed them another sweet or two that she’d hidden away in her skirt, and put them to bed. She’d blown out all the candles and settled in by the fire, humming a soft lullaby.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Elsa had closed her eyes and pictured the bright stars in the dark midwinter sky.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But Nurse is asleep in her chair now, and Anna’s not very good at staying in bed. Slipping out from under her blankets, she toddles to Elsa’s bedside and grabs at Elsa’s hand, pulling.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Elsa can’t ever seem to help being her sister’s willing accomplice.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They walk hand-in-hand along the corridor to the tune of Anna’s giggles, round the corners and all the way to the very top of the grand staircase. The sound of grown-up talk and festival singing carries out of the ballroom where Mother and Father and all the guests have gone, and it’s loud enough that Elsa doesn’t have to shush her sister’s thumping footsteps as they climb down the steps.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Elsa sits on a step halfway down, crowded up against the banister, and pulls Anna into her lap. Anna fingers the green garland wrapped up and down the railing, then taps at Elsa’s hand.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Snow,” she demands.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Elsa shakes her head. “Mother said no, remember?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Anna turns her face up and pouts. Elsa sighs. She hates it when Anna pouts. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Please?” Anna asks, her hand rubbing Elsa’s fingers softly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She looks down the stairs. Housekeeper walks by, hurried, not even glancing at the two wayward princesses. In the hallway above, there’s no sign of Nurse or anyone else. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>No witnesses to see, and Anna’s still sitting in her lap, her chubby lip stuck out, pleading.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Just for a minute,” Elsa says, and Anna claps.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Elsa touches the greenery with a single finger, and tiny ice crystals spread along the branch, up and down, just the barest bit of frost. The light from the torches sparkles off the frozen drops and glows in her baby sister’s eyes as she coos in glee.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Elsa doesn’t remember her first Yule, but Mother’s told her the story. How Elsa’s tiny fingers had reached out to grab at the flame of a candle too fast for Mother to stop her. How Mother and Father had watched, frozen with shock, as the flame had died and ice had spread across the hot wax and crept down the taper’s sides. Elsa’s hand had waved in time to her giggles, her fingers untouched by the fire.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Anna can’t touch a candle’s flame. It’s not safe for her. But she loves to look, and nothing can stop her from trying. Elsa takes hold of a bit of the garland and holds it up, just out of Anna’s reach.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A footstep scuffs on the stair behind them, and Elsa jumps, startled. The green branch in her hand turns ice-cold and white, and it breaks off in her fingers.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m sorry!” she says, wide-eyed as she turns to face Mother.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mother sighs and wraps her arms around them both, kissing first one and then the other on the head. Elsa leans into the softness of her touch. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Anna just grabs onto her Mother’s hair and pulls.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No harm done,” Mother says, wincing a little as she untangles Anna’s fingers. “I remember sneaking down these stairs myself once or twice as a girl.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Elsa looks at the brittle, snow-white bit of garland in her hand, uncertain. Mother takes it as gently as she’d pulled Anna’s hand free from her hair, and she slips it away somewhere into her dress.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No harm done,” she says again, nodding. Then she lifts Anna into her arms and takes Elsa’s hand, leading them up the stairs and tucking them back into bed.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Find me on tumblr at <a href="http://tulipsandtesseracts.tumblr.com">tulipsandtesseracts</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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